Life-changing Questions

Today we visited the Coastal Plain of Israel stopping at a quarry between Nazareth and Sepphoris looking at Jesus' years as a "tekton."

Also Megiddo where we asked, "Who is like the Lord?" and "What does the Lord require of you?"—Micah 6:8.

At Caesarea we examined our own pursuits, answering the question "What kind of kingdom are you building?"

Opulence...this is the only word that kept coming to my mind today! We visited the ruins of Megiddo and Caesarea, two great cities boundless in comforts, wealth and pagan worship, and so driven by passion to appease their Gods that in Megiddo children were raised to be sacrificed. These cities were ruled by kings who found resources to build amazing structures to honor themselves. Herod the Great built Caesarea and because it rivaled the city of Rome he proclaimed himself "great"! What a humble guy!

One the other hand, we visited a quarry just outside of Nazareth where Jesus and his father may have come to collect rocks for building. It is reasonable to think that Jesus and his father may have helped build a city like these. Carpenters worked with stone and when a king calls for more buildings carpenters go to work. Although Jesus lived a humble life he may have contributed his talents to building wealth for others while earning a living for himself and his family.

We work and play in this beautiful world God created for our enjoyment but when we take our eyes off the creator we become infatuated with our own self worth. One of my take aways from today is that in the end we have a pile of rubble and a dead king contrasted with a shepherd king who died a savior and lives on in us! Micah 4: 5 Though all the people walk in the name of their god as for us we will walk in the name of our God.....Hallelujah!

Written by Mary